


Endangered

by orphan_account



Category: Kuragehime | Princess Jellyfish
Genre: Aquariums, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fandom Stocking 2016, Fluff, Jellyfish (of course)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8980816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Shuu is asked to speak on the local news about an endangered animal of his choosing. However, there's one little catch...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosecake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/gifts).



> I've yet to read the manga, so this fic is based on anime-canon only. Hopefully that's okay!  
> These two were definitely my OTP for this show, so I'm glad to see someone else likes them too! Hope you enjoy! I also hope you had a happy Christmas and New Year!

Another flashbulb exploded in her face. Tsukimi fought the urge to rub her eyes. She began to imagine that by the time the day was over, she wouldn’t need to put her glasses back on at all- the reason being that she would be totally blind by then.

“Koibuchi-san,” the reporter began her interview, shoving a mic underneath Shuu’s chin, “What made you chose this particular endangered sea creature to bring our viewers’ awareness to today?”

“Well, Tanaka-san, I believe that question would best be answered by my date for this afternoon.” Shuu smiled at Tsukimi beside him as the reporter- Tanaka- jabbed the mic at her instead.

Tsukimi gestured toward the serenely floating creatures residing in the tank behind her, hand shaking slightly as she began to speak, before gaining momentum as she rattled on about her favorite subject. “Well, you see, the…the ‘peach blossom jellyfish’ was only recently discovered a few years ago in a cave in China, which is the only location wherer they can be found in the wild. They are highly endangered due to their need for precise temperatures and lack of pollutants in their freshwater environment…”

* * *

 

“You did great,” Shuu congratulated, face slightly pink, as he set his tray down on the aquarium cafeteria’s ocean blue table. He hoped that he sounded as confident as he did in his head. Although it wasn’t a real date, he did still want to make a good impression on such a cute girl.

“R-really? Tsukimi sputtered in reply as she moved to adjust her glasses, forgetting that they were still back home on her nightstand. “To be honest, I couldn’t even hear myself…”

Shuu shook his head. "No, really. You would make a great science teacher someday."

"Thank you..." Tsukimi looked behind her shoulder, both in order to avoid his gaze and to peer at the reporter and camera man eating lunch at the table behind them. "How much time do you think we have before they want to film again?"

Was this how fashionable actresses felt, Tsukimi wondered. The flashy outfit Kuranosuke had picked out for her certainly made her feel like one. In fact, it was Kuranosuke who had called her up, asking for the favor in the first place. She was a little surprised that her friend was willing to go so far out of the way for his brother, although probably the draw of getting to make over Tsukimi once more was too tempting.

Over the past few days, the local news had been reaching out to various politicians, attempting to get one of them to agree to speak on air about an endangered animal of their choosing at either the zoo or aquarium as an interest piece in order to raise awareness. Mr. Koibuchi hadn’t had the time for it himself when asked, passing the task off onto his son instead. PR things like this were good practice for him after all. The reporters seemed delighted to be dealing with someone younger (and considerably more handsome), however this prompted them to bring a catch to the table- Shuu was to bring a ‘lady friend’ along for the day. The viewers did love their celebrity dating gossip, after all.

So here they were, back at the aquarium, on a ‘date’ that would be seen be the entire Tokyo region.

As if Tsukimi had summoned them with her question, the reporters scuttled over to their table. “The two of you look like this only your first date! Can’t we get a little action here?”

“A-action?” Tsukimi peeped, nearly choking on her salad.

“Yeah,” Tanaka continued, “Like…How about you feed him?”

Her jaw would have dropped, but she was too sure that she had lettuce between her teeth for that. She couldn’t possibly. Whose fork does one even use for that? Reach across the table for his own? Use her’s? Wouldn’t that be gross? She was only helping him out as a friend, after all- or even as her friend’s brother to be technical. Did Shuu even see her as a friend? Either way, certainly he wouldn’t want a forkful of her spit, and right on TV too…

She had taken too long. The camera was pointed straight at her, ‘on’ light glowing red on the black device like the eye of an animal staring out of its cave, ready to devour her, a deer in the headlights.

However her attention was ripped away from the camera by something approaching her face. A sandwich! Of course. In her panic, it hadn’t even crossed her mind to offer Shuu a bite of her sandwich! She hadn’t even bit into it yet, but now here it was, in his hand, drawing closer and closer to her face. Should she just open her mouth? Hold out her hand and help him support it as she took her bite? She went with the second option.

Her mother had always told her to go with her first instinct.

The sandwich flew in a spectacular arc as her hand collided with his. If sandwich flinging had been an Olympic sport, Tsumiki surely would have earned a ten-out-of-ten on all counts. Finally, it finished its routine off with an impressive _splap_ on the tile.

Tanaka and the camera man sighed in unison. “How about we take another break?”

* * *

 

“Are you sure they can still find us all the way over here in the gift shop when they’re ready to start up again?” Tsukimi asked, attempting to wrest her attention away from the cheerful display of jellyfish plush, and back to her ‘date’.

Shuu, however, was frowning down at his phone, typing out a text. “I’m going to tell them that we’re done for today. It was wrong of me to do this to you, Kurashita-san. It wasn’t my place to make you go through this just because my father couldn’t have been bothered to do the interview himself…”

Tsukimi waved her hands. “Oh no, no! It was really no problem! You know me- always happy to help!”

Her assurance fell on deaf ears, however, as Shuu continued, “Also, I’m very sorry for spoiling your lunch. Please accept this as a token of my apology!”

With that, he snatched up a large pink jellyfish plushie from the display- so quickly that the stack of toys wobbled to and fro quite precariously- and presented it to Tsukimi, bowing deeply as he did so.

Mechanically, Tsukimi accepted it into her arms. Her mind seemed to be racing so much that day, that it could have easily won the Tour de France. It hadn’t been Shuu’s fault at all that half of her lunch was ruined! It had been her who had smacked into his hand. Therefore, she certainly couldn’t accept the doll…only it was ridiculously cute. She squeezed it to her chest as she continued to fret. Should she give it back to him, so he could pay? Or maybe she was supposed to take it to the register herself…

Thankfully, Tsukimi was just then saved by the cashier- none too soon either, as Shuu was just beginning to fear that she hated the gift, hastily chosen as it was.

“Say, aren’t you Keiichiro Koibuchi’s son? Please, take whatever you’d like! It’s our thanks for all your father does for our city!”

As the two wandered out of the gift shop into the fresh air, Shuu couldn’t help but notice Tsukimi turning to look back longingly at the aquarium as she continued to clutch the doll.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s just…I was so busy talking about the peach blossom jelly, I didn’t get to really look at them. Their display wasn’t open yet the last time we came here, so…”

“Let’s go back in then.”

Tsukimi cast a glance toward the curb. “But Hanamori-san is waiting…”

Shuu shook his head. “He’s fine. He texted me that someone left a flyer for a car show on the windshield. He’s in hogheaven daydreaming about all the kinds cars that might be there.”

And so, the two made their way back to the tank where tiny animals continued to waft through the water without a care in the world.

Tsukimi stood transfixed. Maybe she was like the peach blossom jelly, she thought absently- small, and living in a cave, so few of her own kind existing while other, larger, flashy jelly species thrived…

Shuu shifted beside her, as he watched the jellies for himself, the special lighting reflecting off of his glasses as a faint smile of contentment played on his lips.

If Tsukimi's kind were endangered, they were surely in good company.

 

_End_

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Peach Blossom jellyfish](http://cavingnews.com/20110909-rare-peach-blossom-jellyfish-discovered-in-chinese-cave)


End file.
